COOKIES!!!

A couple of weeks ago one of my guys came up to me needing a new flak vest. Normally, you would go to the Supply Sergeant, turn in your old one, and receive a new vest in its place. Well, this is Iraq, and there were complications. To make a long story short, my guy didn’t have his old vest, and the Supply Sergeant was suspicious that this might not be the combat loss we were claiming. Well, I didn’t have any booze (one of several underground currencies used here) so I offered him a couple dozen home made chocolate chip cookies. I don’t think he’d thought of this possibility, and his eyes lit up – I could almost see him salivating as he considered it. In two shakes the deal was done and we walked out of there with not only a new vest, but several of the new combat first aid kits for the guys.

Now to find the cookies. I sent Mom a note asking for a couple dozen homemade cookies, and after some initial resistance (“What? Does he think I’m his mother or something?”) she was more than willing. Keith kept me apprised of the progress being made and in good time I got the word that - like the proverbial check – the cookies were in the mail. And so we waited. And waited. And waited. Every other day I received an email from the Supply Sergeant asking where his cookies were? It probably wouldn’t have taken this long to get my hands on that bottle of booze, but I knew the cookies would be worth it. After all, if value is assessed according to an object’s scarcity, homemade cookies should be more than booze anyway.

And then one day, THEY WERE HERE!!! Not two dozen, but EIGHT DOZEN (!), all wrapped in tin foil and encased in separate air tight Tupperware. To tell the truth, they looked more like baked potatoes than cookies, but they tasted GREAT. And so I took them around to all of the guys and made sure everyone got some, saving one container for the Supply Sergeant over on Victory (which was delivered today). THANKS MOM!!!

(and Dad too – I got the word that he helped)